


home is whenever (i'm with you).

by redhoods



Series: sometimes i wonder how. [2]
Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-04
Updated: 2012-02-04
Packaged: 2017-10-30 13:59:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/332502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redhoods/pseuds/redhoods
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s unnerving. He’s used to having another heart beat, another chest rising and falling with breaths, the absence of it is startling, almost frightening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	home is whenever (i'm with you).

Jeremy wakes up alone in the bed, the sheet barely covering him and the comforter dragged half way off the other side of the bed. He waits for a few seconds, listening, but there’s no sounds, no breathing, no heartbeats. He’s up and pulling on sweatpants, halfway down the stairs before he even realizes it, his body on autopilot from days, weeks, months of hiding. He skips the squeaky step that’s almost three fourths of the way down and halts on the last step, listening once more. 

Still quiet.

It’s unnerving. He’s used to having another heart beat, another chest rising and falling with breaths, the absence of it is startling, almost frightening. Dropping off the final step, he makes his way towards the front door, feet not making a sound on the hard wood. He stops at the door, listening once more, knowing that if he opens the door, it’ll creak. 

Practically everything in the house creaks.

He twists the nob slowly, tugging the door in towards him, wincing at the creak of protest. Stepping onto the front porch, Jeremy still doesn’t hear anything aside from animals in the woods and he’s really starting to worry. The old, rusted truck is still sitting in its usual spot, the sun reflecting off the windshield. He crosses to one end of the porch, leaning around to look at the side yard, listening, and does the same to the other end with no results.

Feeling on the verge of panic, Jeremy goes back into the house, rubbing his hand roughly over his face, his ring catching on skin. He takes deep breaths, walking into the kitchen. Bracing his hands on the island, he lets his head hang, still breathing, still listening though.

There’s coffee in the pot, lukewarm and only enough for maybe two cups. The whiskey glasses are drying on the rack. The trash is empty.

Nothing looks out of the ordinary.

He goes to the fridge, it’s still stocked like it had been before they had gone to bed. Pushing the fridge door shut, Jeremy eyes the blank whiteboard. No note either.

He can’t decide if he’s being irrational or not.

There’s only one place he hasn’t checked, so Jeremy walks to the backdoor and pulls it open, looking out at the back yard, checking the hammock before his eyes stray to the lake. He still doesn’t hear anything unusual, but steps onto the back porch just in case.

His feet carry him down off the porch and towards the lake. The surface is still, only rippling when fish come to the top, nothing unusual. Heaving a sigh, Jeremy steps out onto the dock, going slowly over the old boards that they still haven’t replaced. He ends up standing on the edge, bare feet wiggling against the old wood as he looks out over the surface.

Jeremy doesn’t except a hand to wrap around his ankle, the shout that leaves him making that obvious as he crashes into the water, disturbing the surface with hundreds of ripples.

He breaks the surface, coughing and wiping his face down as he tries to find the perpetrator. 

Tyler’s grinning at him from twenty feet away, water dripping down from his hair onto his face.

Jeremy narrows his eyes and shakes his head, lunging for Tyler then, getting a hand around his bicep before Tyler can jerk away. He uses Tyler’s weight against him, pulling himself against the hybrid, “What the hell, man,” he states, locks his legs around Tyler from behind.

Laughing, Tyler keeps them both afloat, making his way towards the bank with Jeremy still attached, “Wanted to see if you’d come looking,” he murmurs, pushing them out of the water and slumping forward on his stomach on the bank, crushing Jeremy’s legs under him.

Squirming, Jeremy pushes at Tyler’s back, levering himself until he can get his legs from under Tyler and flops to the side, brushing his wet hair out of his face, “Why?” 

The ‘of course, I would’ is implied.

Tyler shrugs, shifts and settles himself over Jeremy, a knee on either side of Jeremy’s hips as he leans down, lapping at the water on Jeremy’s neck, “For fun,” he murmurs against the skin then, nipping teasingly.

Jeremy shudders, can’t stop himself from doing it. It doesn’t matter how long he and Tyler have been together, Tyler’s always going to have that effect.

Jeremy’s okay with that.

He tangles his fingers in Tyler’s hair, tugging lightly until Tyler is looking at him, “You know I’d always come looking for you,” he states then.

Tyler ducks down, dropping his forehead against Jeremy’s, bumping their noses together playfully, “I know, Jere,” he replies finally, sinking down against Jeremy, hiding his face in the vampire’s neck, humming softly when Jeremy’s fingers start running through his hair.

Jeremy smiles absently, settling back against the grass, still running his fingers slowly through Tyler’s hair as he looks up at the sky.


End file.
